DMK mum on Sonia’s May 23 invite to Oppn parties

The party has denied receiving any invite from its ally Congress thus far. Even as the media was speculating the agenda behind Sonia Gandhi writing to all non-BJP parties for a meeting on the evening of May 23 (day of counting), DMK organising secretary RS Bharati denied receiving an invite.

“Normally, such letters are sent to Anna Arivalayam. So far, we have not received any. I do not know if she (Sonia) had sent it to our leader (Stalin),” he told DT Next. Asked if the DMK would take part in the meeting if it receives the letter, Bharati said, “We have a week more to go. If we receive a letter, our leader would decide on participating in the meeting then,” he added.

The DMK has chosen to keep mum at a time when pundits were predicting lack of clear majority for either of the two major fronts or rather a hung Parliament scenario post May 23. Congress has reached out to its allies and parties like TRS, TDP, YSR Congress and BJD that are not aligned with her party, understandably, to consolidate the Opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP.

Meanwhile, DMK president Stalin also urged the state Chief Secretary and secretaries of concerned departments to act on a war footing to end the acute water crisis in the state. The acute water shortage had revealed the failure of kudimaramathu scheme for which the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has claimed to have spent Rs 100 crore thus far. “EPS regime has claimed to have spent Rs 100 crore on the scheme. But the acute water shortage clearly shows that none of the water bodies were desilted in the state. The water crisis is a vindication of the miserable failure of the kudimaramathu announced by the CM,” Stalin said in a statement urging the administration to act.